For the past 12 years, I’ve have been hunting on my dad’s lease in north Louisiana, Bienville Parish in Saline. I’ve only had a chance to shoot does. For some reason, I would never see a buck, and the two times I did see bucks, they were chasing does, and I can’t shoot that fast!
I finally had my chance to change things the night of Nov. 23, 2013.
It was cold, about 35 degrees, windy, wet, and it had been raining on and off all afternoon. I hadn’t seen anything move all day. It was just about time to pack up and go back to the camp when I saw a dark bodied animal come onto the food plot about 200 yards away.
I put my gun up in the window, looked through the scope and saw antlers.
I was shaking so much, rain was flying off the roof of the stand. As for the buck, I was so amazed because he didn’t have a care in the world. He was just eating and walking. He didn’t look up at the stand once.
I waited a minute until he turned broadside, took a deep breath, and pulled the trigger. Once the smoke cleared, I didn’t see him.
Using the radio, I called my dad, and he and my boyfriend came to help. I rode up the food plot to where I shot — or where I thought I shot at — my buck. We found one drop of blood and some white hair. A little while later, we found two more drops and that was it, nothing more. My heart sank.
My dad didn’t give up.
He walked a little farther and turned down a path, and there was my deer. It had run 30 yards at most, and I had made a perfect shot. I wanted to hug the deer when I saw it, I was so proud.
The first thing I did was hug my dad and thank him for teaching me how to hunt. I was so proud, and he was proud of me. I will always be a daddy’s girl and I’m forever grateful for him and teaching me to love the outdoors.
It’s been about two weeks since my hunt and I’m still excited to tell the story. It’s a kind of excitement you can’t measure, explain or put a price on.